Argentina to Sidestep U.S. Ruling by Paying Bonds Locally

Argentina plans to pay its foreign-currency bonds locally to sidestep a U.S. court ruling that blocked payments last month and caused the nation to default for a second time in 13 years.

The government will submit a bill to Congress that lets overseas debt holders swap into new bonds governed by domestic law with the same terms, President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said in a nationwide address yesterday. Payments will be made into accounts at the central bank instead of through Bank of New York Mellon Corp., the current trustee.